| In the Official Gazette no. 345 of April 5, 2021, was published Law no. 58/2021 which brings a series of changes regarding the organization of working time, during the state of emergency / siege / alert, in the context generated by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. |
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| In the following we will make a brief review of the changes related to the organization of working time. |
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| The normative act in question modifies the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020 on support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as follows: |
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| In case of temporary reduction of working time, determined by the establishment of the state of emergency / alert / siege, in accordance with the law, during the state of emergency / alert / siege, as well as for a period of up to 3 months from the end of the last period in which the state of emergency / alert / siege has been established, employers have the possibility to reduce the working time of employees by at most 80% of the daily, weekly or monthly duration, provided in the individual employment contract. |
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| Where there are trade unions entitled to negotiate the collective agreement at unit level, the measure to reduce working time shall be taken by the employer with the consent of the trade union entitled to negotiate the collective agreement or, if it does not exist, with employees’ representatives. |
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| The reduction of working time is established by the decision of the employer, for a period of at least 5 working days, included in the period of 30 calendar days, starting with the first day of effective application of the measure. The reduction of working time also applies to the shift work program, as well as to the unequal work schedule. |
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| The employer’s decision on the reduction of working time, the work schedule, the manner of its distribution by days and the related salary rights shall be communicated to the employee at least 5 days before the effective application of the measure. If there is a change in the work schedule caused by an increase in the employer’s activity that requires additional staff or if it is necessary to replace an employee who is unable to work according to his work schedule, the communication to the employee it is made at least 24 hours before the effective application of the measure. |
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| During the reduction of working time under the conditions provided by the normative act, the employees affected by the measure benefit from an indemnity of 75% of the gross monthly basic salary related to the hours of reduction of the working hours. |
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| The indemnity is borne by the employer, from the chapter related to personnel expenses from his income and expenditure budget, and is paid on the date of payment of the salary for that month, to be deducted from the unemployment insurance budget, after the employer fulfills the declaratory and payment obligations related to income from salaries and assimilated to salaries in the period for which the request is made. |
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| The indemnity is income of a salary nature and is subject to taxation and payment of social security contributions. |
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| During the period of applicability of the measure to reduce working time, both the hiring of staff to perform activities identical or similar to those performed by employees whose working time has been reduced, and the subcontracting of activities carried out by employees whose working time has been reduced are prohibited. |
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| During the period of applicability of the measure to reduce working time, the employee benefits from all other rights provided in the individual employment contract or in the collective employment contract. |
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| Regarding the conditions in order to be able to order by the employer the measure of reducing the working time, the normative act stipulates that these are the following: |
| the measure affects at least 10% of the number of employees of the unit;the reduction in activity is justified by a decrease in turnover in the month preceding the application of the measure or, at most, in the month preceding the month preceding it, by at least 10% compared to the same month or the monthly average turnover in the year preceding the declaration. state of emergency / alert / siege, respectively 2019. |
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| During the period of application of the measure to reduce working time, employees affected by this measure may not perform additional work at the same employer. Also, in the months when the reduction of working time is applied, the employer cannot initiate collective dismissals. |
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| For further details, please contact us at the email address : office@ltj.ro . |
